Box Score I Play-by-Play

JACKSON, Tenn. – The No. 2 seed Eastern Kentucky University baseball team fell to the No. 4 seed Eastern Illinois, 11-2, on Thursday afternoon in the Colonels’ opening game of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament at Pringles Park.

Senior right-hander Matt Fyffe (9-1), the recently-announced OVC Pitcher of the Year, did not deliver the type of quality outing he had delivered so frequently during the regular season, going five innings and allowing nine runs on 11 hits while striking out six to pick up his first loss of the 2012 season.

Right-hander Troy Barton (9-5), meanwhile, worked 6.2 innings for EIU (28-27), surrendering just one unearned run on six hits while striking out seven to earn the win.

EIU jumped out to a 3-0 lead before EKU (31-22) finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning. Senior Jacob Daniel led off that inning with a single and went to third when sophomore Bryan Soloman ripped a single down the left field line. Soloman, however, was thrown out at second attempting to stretch that single into a double. After senior #A.J. Jamison# went down on strikes, senior Michael Garcia drew a walk to put runners on the corners, before senior Dustin Dunlop reached on an error by EIU shortstop Ryan Dineen, allowing Daniel to reach home from third and making the score 3-1.

The Panthers got one of those runs back in the top of the fifth and then exploded for six runs in the top of the sixth to blow the game open. Ben Thoma led off that frame with a solo home run, and Jacob Reese ended the scoring with a two-run single to center field, giving EIU a commanding 10-1 lead.

EIU added one more in the top of the seventh before Jamison scored freshman pinch runner Demetrius Moorer with an RBI groundout in the bottom of the eighth to make it 11-2.

Daniel, Garcia and Dunlop all collected two hits for EKU in the loss.

Dineen paced the EIU offense, driving in a team-high four runs on the afternoon.

EKU, the OVC regular season co-champion, will now face the No. 3 seed Jacksonville State on Friday at 12:00 p.m. ET in an elimination game. If the Colonels win that game, they will play immediately afterwards at 4:00 p.m. ET against an opponent yet to be determined.